The Los Angeles Lakers clearly landed on a gem when Tennessee sharpshooter Dalton Knecht fell them with the No. 17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. In the weeks leading up to the draft, Knecht was projected to get picked in the top 10, but concerns about his age and defense dropped him to LeBron James and the Lakers after the lottery.
The early results have been astonishing for Knecht. He is averaging 11.3 points per game on absurd 52.3/46.4/92.3 shooting splits and is coming off of an incredible game in which he scored 37 points on nine 3-pointers, tying an NBA rookie record.
While this level of success is hard to predict for just about any rookie, let alone a 17th pick, LeBron knew L.A. had something special. The Lakers star made a self-aware joke before commenting on his original thoughts on Knecht from draft night.
“The same shit I said last year. Everybody on the internet calls me a liar all the time. They say I lie about every f—–g thing. So what am I now? I’ve been said it. I watched him. I watched Tennessee a lot. I watched Tennessee a lot. I did not think he was gonna fall to us. I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how that happened, but I am very grateful and very happy that he’s here. I knew exactly what we was getting when he fell to 17.”
Knecht’s success was so obvious to James that he couldn’t even give credit to the Lakers front office for selecting him, saying that it was the fault of the 16 teams that picked before L.A. for not doing so.
“They didn’t find DK. The other 16 teams fucked it up… Did anybody watch him? Shit. They just didn’t fuck it up.”
LeBron went into specifics about Tuesday night’s historic performance and what made it so incredible to both watch and be a part of.
“Special to watch. It’s fun. I mean, when you’re playing the game the right way, and it’s coming into the flow, but when a guy gets hot like that, and feel like you could you just throw anything into the ocean and it’s going in for sure. And DK, got it going.
“Everybody was in the game at that moment. I think it was DLo, finding him a lot, and when I got in, I got to find him. Whole team. Just keep finding him because he had it going.”
Knecht has already proven himself to be worth the pick the Lakers used on him, and also proven that 16 teams could have benefitted from having him on their roster. But now, James and the Lakers get the benefit of having Knecht for at least the next four seasons.
Dalton Knecht knew it would be special night after first shot
From the 3:29 mark of the third quarter to the 11:08 mark of the fourth, every single Laker point was scored by Dalton Knecht. He went on a personal 21-7 run, hitting six threes and making three free throws on a fouled attempt. It was perhaps the most untouchable any player has been in a short stretch this season on any team.
Tying the all-time rookie record with nine threes in a game is a remarkable feat. And as is the case with most sharpshooters, Knecht could feel it was going to be a good night right away.
“The first shot. Every time I see one go in, I think the next one’s going in. Even if I miss it, I always have confidence that my next shot is going in. My dad always told me that so that’s just my confidence.”
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